A/N Ok first I don't own anything, Harry Potter and Black Butler are products of someone elses mind. Second, I am going to be working with the anime not the manga but I will be adding in background. This chapter has been run through multiple grammar checkers but has not been betad. I am working on all my other fics too but this one is what is on my mind now. I have started a facebook group called Fanfiction Beta Readers and we are looking for members so if you wish please check it out. We also have a twitter under the same name. Please read and review I would love to hear from you all.

Storm

~0~

June 9, 2023

When he had died that first time, in the forbidden forest, he had been scared yes but his death was a means to an end. His life for Voldemort's; it was a fair trade in his mind. When he woke up again he was ecstatic, and he swore he would live every moment to its fullest. So after the funerals on both sides, far too many, he traveled. He went to distant lands, made new friends, ate new things and he learned. Oh did Harry learn; new languages, new magicks, new dances and new songs.

At twenty-three he returned to Britain and he brought with him stories of new adventures and more books than he might ever read. His family and friends welcomed him home with open hearts and he felt at peace. He married the girl of his dreams and had two beautiful children.

Harry never stopped though; he learned and he loved, he laughed and he lived with all his heart. He was determined to squeeze every drop of life from every moment. He still traveled, dragging his wife and kids along on random holidays, and he exposed them to the wonders of life and the joys of freedom.

And maybe that's where everything started to go wrong. Perhaps theirs was a tragic romance, forged in the white-hot fires of war and cooled too long in the waters of peace, destined to shatter under true stress. Harry didn't know really; all he did know, as he watched his wife move under a body that was most definitely not his, was that his heart which bloomed with love for the woman hurt like nothing before.

He slowly closed the door to the bungalow and started walking down the beach, past the buildings holding his sleeping teenage children, toward the magnificent cliffs not far from his private section of the island. Catching his wife in the arms of another man was just the most recent in a long line of incidents leading him towards that moment.

A storm, which had been brewing for the better part of the day, had started to rage as he began to walk up the steep climb to the cliff top. The wind ripped past him as he reached for a supporting rock and Harry looked up into the teeth of the storm as the rain began to pour down on him. At forty-two he was by no means old for a wizard but as he climbed that steep wet surface Harry James Potter, Lord of more estates than he could count, felt old. Like a horse that had spent its whole life trudging along with nothing to show for it but a broken back and a pat on the head.

He brushed sopping black hair from his green eyes as he paused briefly to catch his breath even as it was stolen by the wind. Harry finished the climb, one he'd made with his family many times, and when he reached the flat top he found himself in the heart of the tempest. Wild and unruly the rain danced across the stone, the wind threatened to throw the wizard a hundred feet from the cliff to the raging surge that beat relentlessly against the shore.

Harry forged his way through the onslaught to the very edge where stone met the sky and stood arms outward in the face of the Sea God and his vicious storm. He stood there for so long the sun started to peak from behind graying clouds until finally Poseidon gave up and the storm and sea started to recede. He let his arms fall limp and lifeless to his sides and just stood there feeling worn out but victorious.

As he stood there soaking wet Harry found he didn't hate his wife but he also found he didn't love her as he once had, as he had the morning before, it was like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He hadn't even noticed over the years how all of Ginny's passive aggressive manipulative bullshit had been wearing him down and draining the wind from his sails. A laugh escaped him as a smile curled his lips; Harry spent several moments stretching his arms above his head just enjoying the morning sun.

It was probably fate that his foot slipped in that moment, a horrible twist that sent him careening over the edge of the cliff toward the still turbulent sea. It happened so fast, a blink and a scream then struck the cliff rocks and knew no more.

~0~

He felt a strong sense of déjà vu as he opened his eyes, all above and around him was the ghostly white image of King's Cross Station. Harry lay there feeling numb, almost apathetic, to the unrelenting fact that he was dead. What was he supposed to feel, he'd died before but this time he didn't have an ace in the hole. No magic trinkets from a crazy old man, no hope for a better future, nothing.

"Why?" Harry asked, his voice carrying in the wide emptiness of the station.

"Because you can't run from me, Master." A voice said from his left. Harry rolled his head in that direction and was not surprised in the least to see the specter of Albus Dumbledore standing there.

"Death, I presume?" He drawled not in the least moved by the sight of that man. After his first death he had been enlightened even more as to the man who Dumbledore had been and honest as Merlin that man was no ideal of his. "Please take another form."

"Of course, Master." The figure simmered in the way that was hard to describe, like a heat wave or a ripple and it was over in a second. It settled on a classically dressed male figure with pale blond hair. He brushed a piece of imaginary dust from his lapel with a smirk before leaning against the pillar that was beside him. "Does this form please you, Master?"

Harry just stared at the stranger's face with empty eyes, not impressed at the entity's shape change after having met Tonks and partially raising Teddy. The thought of his godson and children sent a sharp pain through his chest; he closed his eyes in pain and prayed they would be alright. Death let him have his moment, ever patient.

"What happens now?" Harry inquired softly as he pulled himself into the sitting position.

"You move on Master." Death replied just as softly though he had a playful tone to his voice.

"How?" He asked even though he had an idea of what the other would say. Only Death didn't say anything just waved a hand toward an old pure white train as it pulled into the station. Harry looked between the train and Death; something told him that Death was playing a game with him, only no one had told Harry any of the rules.

He sighed and stood, his body feeling and looking seventeen again. It was almost like the twenty-something years hadn't even happened; like he had never gone back to begin with. Harry looked back at the unearthly man only he wasn't there anymore, the green-eyed man did a quick turnabout but there wasn't a single soul anywhere to be seen.

The train puffed away in its docking and as Harry looked the door to the leading cabin car slid open. He sighed again, tired and in mental agony knowing he'd never see his family again, but with a back as straight as it had ever been he marched toward the outdated train. He stepped up and grabbed the handrail but a sound behind him caused him to turn. His green eyes opened wide at the site that greeted him.

The previously empty platform was full of people who were the same ghostly white as the station bustling along. As he watched some boarded two other white trains and others just stood there talking to thin air, only if he really focused the air next to them shimmered. His train started to move, slowly at first and for a second Harry was afraid he would lose his grip as the train jerked about.

He boarded the train properly as the vehicle started to pick up speed. As he wandered around the car he noticed that all the doors were locked except for one. Harry didn't even pause before entering the open cabin and seated himself on the white cushion. He'd only been sitting for a moment when a tiredness started to overcome him. He blinked green eyes and fought to stay awake but as the white landscape passed by the window he found that it was a losing battle. He closed his eyes one last time and drifted away into a deep sleep.

~0~

July 31, 1873

Rachel Phantomhive nee Dalles was pregnant for the first time and she was deliriously happy. Her husband of a year Earl Vincent Phantomhive was just as happy and spent days talking to her stomach. Sadly as the months passed she became weaker and the doctor had her restricted to bed. Her sister Angelina was by her side every chance she got as Vincent was often otherwise disposed of in his role as the Queen's Guard Dog.

Suddenly one day, while talking to her beloved sister, she felt sharp pains and in a panic Angelina called for the doctor that Vincent had requested stay at the manor. The tall blond man, who was always dressed in full formal attire, entered Rachel's bedchambers with his bag of equipment. Rachel was scared as the pains continued, the doctor checked her over quickly and then smiled brightly at her.

"It seems that your baby will be joining us shortly." The man said as he turned to summon a servant with the bell pull. Tanaka, the House Steward, was there before Rachel had a moment to register the doctor's words. "Old man, collect the midwife."

The strawberry-blonde woman was suddenly scared out her mind, it was several weeks early and she'd heard plenty of horror stories about children born too early. Angelina held her hand as the doctor and midwife worked to get everything set up and suffered through Rachel's ear piercing shrieks as the pain got worse. The countess didn't remember much after the doctor started to work because one moment everything hurt than the midwife was placing a bundle in her arms.

Rachel was in shock for a moment as she held onto the baby like she'd been instructed to. It was over, and after a moment a laugh bubbled in her tired chest. Next to her Angelina peeked at the baby and Rachel could see the instant her sister fell in love because her red eyes softened and a smile touched her painted lips.

Rachel's own blue eyes widened when the doors to her chambers were thrown open by her husband who was puffing as if he'd just run up every stair in the manor. Vincent's wide brown eyes scanned the room before brightening at the sight of her. In the background the doctor and midwife finished cleaning her up and left.

"Rachel, my love, are you alright?" Vincent asked as he took a set next to her on the bed. Angelina whispered a quiet goodbye and left as well. Rachel didn't say anything just passed the bundle to her startled husband. He stared down at the sleeping baby with his thick blue-black hair and gave a weak laugh before he slowly and with care started to unwrap the blanket that surrounded the child. "A boy!"

"Oh, darling," Rachel exclaimed in joy as she pushed up a little in the bed to look at the proof. She was so happy that she was able to give her beloved husband with an heir. They sat there a moment until the baby started to wiggle about in the cold air, Vincent quickly wrapped their son back up and handed him back to her. "What shall we name him?"

"Hadrian," Vincent said after a moment.

"Oh, Vincent!" Rachel gushed as tears started to pour down her face. That he would name their first-born after her father and not his said much about the love he had for her. She choked back a sob at the thought of her father who had passed away just months before. With her bed rest she had been unable to attend the funeral or even properly display her mourning but to name her first son after her father would show that she still mourned even in the happiest time of her life.